Nude-photo theft shows privacy risk

Tuesday

Apr 21, 2015 at 12:01 AMApr 21, 2015 at 7:49 AM

If the 21-year-old college student hadn't left her laptop on a library table while she ran to the restroom, the computer might not have been stolen. If she hadn't had nude photos of herself on that computer, she might not have been threatened with seeing those photos splashed across the Internet. And if she hadn't immediately notified police about her stolen laptop and the blackmail attempt, a Minnesota man might not be facing federal charges in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Kathy Lynn Gray, The Columbus Dispatch

If the 21-year-old college student hadn't left her laptop on a library table while she ran to the restroom, the computer might not have been stolen.

If she hadn't had nude photos of herself on that computer, she might not have been threatened with seeing those photos splashed across the Internet.

And if she hadn't immediately notified police about her stolen laptop and the blackmail attempt, a Minnesota man might not be facing federal charges in U.S. District Court in Columbus.

Demonte Johntrell Latimore, 27, of St. Paul was charged in a criminal complaint last week with extortion in the case, which stretches back to Dec. 5, 2011.

That's the day that the woman, then a student at Ohio State University's Newark campus, left her Apple MacBook Pro unattended for a few minutes in the campus library. It was gone when she returned, and she reported the loss to university police.

Court records provide the case details:

Thirteen days after her laptop was snatched, an email popped into the woman's OSU account from iwant300dollars@gmail.com. It said, in part, "I'm sure I have something you want very badly back. . . . Oh yea, you have a very lovely body."

Newark police began investigating the source of the emails.

Two months later, on Feb. 27, 2012, the woman received an emailed threat from bigmoneyyt@gmail.com: Pay the sender $3,000 or he would send two videos from her computer plus explicit photos of her to Internet porn sites and to everyone in her address book.

The next day she wrote to him that she was trying to come up with the money and begged him not to post the photos. Over the next few days, bigmoneyyt@gmail.com emailed her again and again with threats. On March 8, the FBI found a sex tape and 35 naked photos of her on a Facebook page the emailer had set up.

By then, Newark police, with the help of the FBI, had tracked the emails to St. Paul. The trail then led them to Latimore, who was in custody on charges of auto theft and aggravated robbery. When officers searched his apartment on March 16, 2012, they found the woman's laptop and two men from Newark.

One of them, Otis T. Harris, pleaded guilty in Licking County Common Pleas Court last year to receiving stolen property in connection with the laptop. He was sentenced to two years of probation.

The other man wasn't charged.

The incident, said Sgt. Scott Snow of the Newark Police Department, teaches a modern-day lesson.

"Every day we see news stories about people losing intimate photos," he said. "I don't think there's any way that you can categorically say that your private photos are protected. Even if you delete it from your phone, it's still there and somebody can find it."

Snow said the exposure of the photos took a strong emotional toll on the woman.

"It changed her life," Snow said. "It really is a complete sense of loss of control over your life."

Intimate photos, he said, should never be kept where anyone else could ever gain access to them. Password-protecting photos on a device won't keep them hidden from a computer hacker, he said.

"The shame and embarrassment - I've seen it over and over again," Snow said.

The woman made a smart move by reporting the computer's loss and the threats immediately, Snow said. Investigators need time to track down an emailer, and they often ask victims to keep lines of communication open without mentioning that law enforcement is involved.

As far as he knows, Snow said, the woman didn't pay any money to the blackmailer.

The woman could not be reached for comment. She is still listed as an Ohio State student, majoring in biology.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah A. Solove said the complaint against Latimore wasn't filed until last week because an unrelated federal charge against him - having a firearm while on probation - was filed first. Latimore is serving more than 15 years in federal prison on that case.

He has a lengthy criminal record in Minnesota that includes convictions for theft, burglary and receiving stolen property.

Latimore used the Metropolitan State University library in St. Paul to send his bigmoneyyt emails to the woman, according to the federal complaint.

kgray@dispatch.com

@reporterkathy

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